Automatic milking systems are known from e.g. WO 2009/123435 (A2).
Another automatic milking system is known from WO 2008/140407 A1.
Today's automatic milking systems cannot identify animals having a slow milking rate. Instead, such animals are recorded as being “ready” while remaining milk in the udder is prone to attract bacterial growth, which may result in mastitis.
There are two types of mastitis: clinical mastitis and subclinical mastitis.
Clinical mastitis, i.e. a fully developed inflammation, is very common, and costly to the farming business, since the productivity and milk quality of an animal having clinical mastitis is reduced and emergency slaughter often becomes necessary.
Subclinical mastitis is even more common than clinical mastitis and does not result in any change in general condition of the animal. However, subclinical mastitis also causes a drop in productivity and an increased level of cells in the milk, which may lead to a reduction of milk quality and an associated reduction in the milk price.
Today, clinical mastitis is treated with antibiotics. Subclinical mastitis is generally not treated at all.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,277,744 B2 provides a background to the concept of using infrared thermography for detecting clinical or subclinical mastitis in lactating animals. According to U.S. Pat. No. 7,277,744 B2, “[t]he successful treatment of mastitis is possible using a variety of animal management, milking hygiene and antibiotic agents.”
Hence, there remains a need for an improved concept of detecting and treating mastitis in lactating animals.